Chapter Five

Chad cut the engine, opened his door before stopping dead. A prickle of awareness went through him. He slapped a hand to the hairs rising on the back of his neck as he eyed the house, but his sense of unease came from elsewhere.

It felt like eyes on him.

But there was no red truck behind him.

Feet hopped along the roof of the outhouse. Chad squinted, climbing out of the car. He stood on his tiptoes to get a good look at the bird, but it moved out of sight.

Chad slammed the door shut and locked the car. He stepped towards the house, only to stop again at the sound of growling.

Playful growling.

He trudged around the side of the house, only to stop in his tracks at the sight of Merc dashing around the muddy field. His playful growls were joined by another rumble from Romeo, not a noise Chad was used to hearing, but he labelled it as frustration.

A sweaty, mud-covered Romeo was a sight to behold, and Chad leaned against the side of the house and watched his failed attempts at catching Merc. He stifled a laugh when Romeo slipped and ended up on his knees.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

Romeo staggered back to his feet, only to yell his outrage at his mud-covered jeans. Chad couldn't catch his second chuckle behind his hand in time.

Merc heard and bounded over with his tail swishing and a stolen tea towel swinging from his teeth.

He skidded to a stop, abandoned his newfound toy, and pressed muddy paw prints all over Chad's suit trousers.

"Having fun?" Chad asked him.

He reached down and gave Merc a generous pat on the head.

Romeo stalked closer, still huffing and grumbling under his breath. His dark eyes stayed fixed on Merc as he came to a stop two meters from where Chad fussed their new companion.

"Your dog stole my tea towel."

"Our dog." Chad corrected, leaning over to grab the offending item. The magpie tea-towel Chad despised. He snorted. "If anything, the mud and dog slobber has improved it."

"He's worse than vermin."

Chad pouted and looked down at Merc, a big smile on his face, and staring up at Chad with huge eyes, oblivious to the insult from his new master.

"I've had to chase him for it for the last twenty minutes."

"He thinks it's a game," Chad replied.

Romeo held his hand out for the towel. When Chad didn't immediately give it to him, he grunted and snapped his fingers. "That particular design is no longer available."

"What a shame."

"Precisely."

Chad smirked, taking a step closer to Romeo. He held the towel out. It trembled in his grip, and his heart began racing. At the last second, he snatched it back then threw it over his shoulder. Merc leaped off the ground to catch it and dashed away with his tail moving in a blur. He bolted for the still open kitchen door.

Romeo's expression darkened. His outstretched hand fell back to his side. "I can't believe you just did that."

Chad took a step away as Romeo took a menacing one forward.

He lifted his chin. "It makes a better dog toy."

"It's my tea towel."

"It's Merc's tug toy."

Romeo's nostrils flared. "You had hold of it, and instead of giving it back to me, you threw it to him."

Chad shrugged. "He's … more adorable, 5 letters."

Romeo raised his eyebrow. "He's not cuter than me."

"You don't have a waggly tail."

"I have other parts that you're very fond of. I suggest you apologize if you want to see them again."

Chad smiled. "Like you would keep them from me."

Romeo smirked. "Look," he gestured to his knees. "He ruined my jeans."

"Technically, you did. If you'd been a bit more careful when running around the field … well, you wouldn't have fallen."

Romeo's cheeks reddened. The skin of his droopy eye twitched. "Is that you trying to be funny?"

"It's me being honest."

Merc poked his head out the kitchen door. He dropped the tea towel and barked.

"Little shit bag," Romeo mumbled.

Chad patted his shoulder. "That makes you big shit bag."

Merc barked again.

"I swear if he barks at us again, I'm going string him up with the chain in the outhouse."

Merc growled, then barked.

Romeo ran at him but not before Chad tackled him around the middle and tried to pull him to a stop.

"Run, Merc!" Chad called.

Merc snatched the tea towel back into his mouth and disappeared into the house.

Chad slipped, and landed with a wet slap, half his face pressed into squelchy mud, but he couldn't help his smile.

Romeo's firm hands gripped onto his arms and rolled him onto his back. He straddled Chad's chest, knees sinking into the mud, weight rendering Chad helpless. Romeo's fingers curled around Chad's wrists like shackles and drew them above his head.

"You got me," Chad said.

He gazed up at Romeo, smiling, but the expression he got in return was blank, unmoved. Merc yapped for their attention somewhere behind him, but he didn't look, too drawn to Romeo and the expression he couldn't read.

Chad's smile began to fade, before it could go out altogether, Romeo's grew. Their smiles met somewhere in the middle, small, tentative until Romeo laughed.

A deep rumbly laugh that made Chad laugh, too, with giddiness and relief.

"You're annoying, you know that?"

Chad tilted his chin up. "Yeah, but you love me anyway."

"I do, God help me I do."

"You got on God's bad side a long time ago, don't expect any favors."

"You've turned your back on him, too."

"For you. I'd turn my back on anyone for you."

Romeo nodded. His expression turned serious. "I know…" Merc broke the moment by skidding into them, tossing the tea towel up in the air.

"I guess it's just a tea towel." Romeo sighed.

Chad nodded and tried to struggle up, but Romeo didn't relent. "Precisely, just a tea towel."

"It was my favorite, though."

Chad tilted his head to Merc beside them, tea towel pinned by his paws, and teeth tearing off strips of material. Romeo didn't look, nor did he flinch at the tears.

His sole focus stayed on Chad.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it." Chad whispered.

"Oh, I know he didn't, he's just a dog, but you … you gave it to him." Romeo narrowed his eyes slightly. "You wanted to end up like this?"

Chad attempted a shrug. "So what if I did…"

Still squeezing Chad's wrists above his head, Romeo leaned down and ran his mouth over Chad's muddy cheek. "You like to play a dangerous game, don't you, Mr. Fuller."

Chad smirked. "Mr. Fuller? It's Detective Fuller."

Romeo kissed him hard. Muddied lips pressed against muddied lips. Chad breathed in the scent of wet earth, but when Romeo's tongue brushed against him, he chased the taste, lifting his head from the dirt just to keep their mouths together, to part his lips, to have a little bit more.

Romeo broke the kiss and grinned down at him smugly. Chad scrunched up his face and attempted to wipe his mouth on his shoulder.

"You taste like sweat and dirt."

"Does that mean you don't want more?" Romeo asked.

Chad's grimace faded. "I never said that."

"You like the taste of sweat and dirt when it's on me?"

"Yes," Chad nodded, brushing their mouths together. "When it's from you."

Romeo's lips shifted against his, smiling at his victory before he pressed into Chad's mouth and pushed his head back to the mud.

He released his iron grip on Chad's wrists.

As soon as he was free, Chad tangled his fingers into Romeo's hair, clutching and releasing until he earned an impatient growl. Romeo pulled away, sitting back on his heels.

"I'm covered in dirt, and I need a shower," Romeo said. "You're coming with me."

"And Merc?"

"Is one hundred percent not allowed in the bathroom for the next thirty minutes."

Chad laughed, and let Romeo pull him to his feet.

Merc bounded over with the scraps of tea towel in his mouth and dropped them at Romeo's feet.

Romeo sighed, grabbing them.

Merc attached his big grey eyes to Romeo, panting up at him as Romeo relented and gave him a pat on the head.

Chad exhaled hard.

"Rough day?" Romeo asked.

"Yeah, but the last ten minutes has made up for it." He glanced down at his feet, then up at Romeo. "I love you so goddamn much."

Romeo smiled. That big smile fluttered Chad's stomach and squeezed his heart. If love had a look, Romeo had just attached it firmly to Chad, and he basked in it for a few moments.

"Come on." Romeo took his hand and pulled Chad over to the kitchen door. "If ten minutes rolling around in the mud has improved your day, imagine what thirty minutes in the shower with me will do to it."

Chad rested his cheek on Romeo's bicep as they trudged back to the house.

****

Showered, and fed, Chad flopped onto his side, using Romeo's thigh as a cushion.

Chad dozed, half listening to Romeo's latest obsession, a Spanish crime drama about a detective solving impossible cases. He'd started the series to help with his language skills. Italian and French weren't enough—he'd added Spanish to the mix, too.

Chad knew it was a distraction. Romeo needed to keep his mind busy.

Unless Chad asked for them, he left the subtitles off, and Chad had to read the character's expression and music to understand what was going on.

He yawned, too tired to care about the current case plaguing the protagonist. Romeo would fill him in once the episode had finished anyway.

Merc clambered onto the sofa despite the loud tut from Romeo and laid down in front of Chad's chest. He wagged his tail every few minutes, beating it against the cushion like a drum, and making Chad chuckle.

"You miss me, huh?"

"Yes," Romeo replied, in a dead-pan voice. "I missed you."

"I was talking to Merc."

Romeo jabbed his fingers at Chad's neck until he squirmed and begged for mercy.

"So … was everything okay?" Chad asked.

Romeo paused the TV.

"If you mean did I try to kill your dog, no I did not."

"Our dog." Chad corrected, stroking a hand down Merc's spine.

Romeo rolled his eyes. "I spent most of my time in the outhouse, going over the cold cases, but his shrill whining got distracting, and I gave up."

"You need to give him attention."

"I had a better solution."

"Which was?"

"I taped his mouth shut."

Chad widened his eyes and rolled onto his back to glare at Romeo. "You did what?"

"I'm joking, Chad. Obviously."

"I don't think anything is obvious when it comes to you."

"Me and Mercutio got on fine, or as fine as we'll ever get on."

"I can drop him off at doggy day care. There's one not too far."

Romeo's eyes narrowed to slits. "Do you really think I'm incapable of looking after him?"

"No. Not incapable."

"We were fine. I walked him around the field. He likes … digging."

Chad smiled, "Yeah, I can imagine."

"No. I mean he likes digging, which might be a problem."

"Why?"

"He fetched me an arm."

Chad sat bolt upright. "What?"

His stomach rolled, and when he glanced down at Merc, Merc lifted his head. His long tongue hung out as he panted, and Chad pictured the scene in his head—Merc bounding across the fields all gleeful and eager for praise with an arm in his mouth.

Romeo tilted his head, his eyes lost in thought. "I can't tell whose it is."

"What?"

"I'll just have to guess and throw it in with one of them."

One of them. The bodies in the field.

It had been over four months since their last kill. Graham Brennan. He killed his wife and her sister. Romeo hadn't had much luck with the cold cases since, but he seemed in control.

"Please say you're joking?"

Chad couldn't shift the imagery of Merc holding a rotting arm from his head. Maggots and bones, with the stench of rot, dropping it at Romeo's feet.

Romeo's serious face cracked. "Of course, I'm joking."

"Damn it, Romeo," Chad clutched his chest. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I'm trying to make you laugh."

"That's not the kind of thing I'd find funny."

"I know that now, but I found it funny, and so did Mercutio." He patted Merc on the head. "I walked him around the field, threw him a ball, found him a stick to chomp on, and looked up some treat recipes online."

"That sounds … that sounds positive."

"Believe it or not, I have been around dogs before, I just had no personal interest in owning one. He's here now, and the least I can do is make sure he's happy and entertained until you get home. You should have more faith in me."

"Forgive me," Chad lifted an eyebrow, "but I did come home to you growling and threatening to kill him."

Romeo shrugged. "He enjoyed it."

Chad settled back down on Romeo's thigh.

"Why the rough day?" Romeo asked. "I thought it was an opened and closed case."

"It was. Dave gave us his verdict and we spent the rest of the day doing paperwork."

"So in what way was it rough?"

"I met my stalker."

Romeo stiffened.

His disapproving stare burned the side of Chad's face. Chad flipped onto his back, not shying away from Romeo's anger.

"You know, the stalker that Keeley wasn't sure existed—"

Romeo's eye twitched. "The one you wouldn't report…"

Chad sat up. "Yeah. No. It wasn't like that. If I was wrong, it would be a red flag for my DI. He already thinks I'm on the brink of a breakdown after what happened with Tate."

"But you weren't wrong?" Romeo growled. "You were being stalked?"

"Not exactly. I did a check on the number plate of her truck and went to confront her."

"Fuck, Chad," Romeo flicked him hard on the temple. "Does this thing work in here?"

"Ouch," Chad slapped his hand to the side of his head. "It works."

"Really?"

"I didn't go on my own. Josh was with me, and she wasn't stalking me. She was following—"

"Sounds a lot like stalking to me."

"She was following me because she wanted my help."

Romeo rolled his eyes. "That damn detective in you can't resist a damsel in distress, can he? Even if she leads him straight into a trap."

"I said no. I said I couldn't help her, and then we left. She's not going to follow me again."

"And you believe that?"

"Yes. I do."

Romeo clenched his jaw. "What did she want help with?"

Chad shifted, sitting beside Romeo, he hunched forward. "Her name is Lucy Hastings, sister of the murdered Harriet Hastings. Vincent has said he wants to wash away his sins before he dies and reveal the location of Harriet's remains."

"So why hasn't he?"

"Well, apparently his memory has nosedived in the last few weeks and he needs some help remembering what he did with her. Which is where Lucy, and James Poole come into it."

"James Poole?"

"A retired detective," Chad frowned. "According to Lucy he had some kind of relationship with Harriet—"

"What has this got to do with you?"

"Vincent isn't willing to cooperate with authorities unless I'm involved, too."

Romeo nodded. "No Chad. No Harriet."

"Something like that." Chad looked up at him. "I said no. I said no to both James and Lucy."

Chad expected the tension to drain from Romeo's shoulders, but it didn't.

"Lucy, she gets it," Chad continued. "She understands. James, less so, but he'll have to accept it. I'm not going back to Wiltknot. I refuse to be one of his puppets, dancing on strings to whatever he's got planned."

Romeo's green eyes darkened. His gaze lingered on Chad's face for a few moments, then he picked up the remote and restarted his program.